Vacuum connection



June 10, 1941.

w. A. CARLSON ,939

VACUUM CONNECTION Filed May 9, 1940 Invnior:

Walt er ACZs/on. I

Patented June 1o, 1941 VACUUM CONNECTION Walter A. Carlson, Minneapolis, Minn assignor to General Mills In ware c., a corporation of Dela- Application May 9, 1-940, Serial No. 334,221 3 Claims. (01. 285-2) In apparatus for treating various materials uncharacter which are simple and easy to assemble mble and yet efllcient in holding a These and other objects; as, will hereinafter 4 appear, are accomplished by this invention which is fully described in the following specification and shown in the drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a partial side elevation partly in section showing an embodiment of the invention;

fication oi the same: and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view or a gasket used as a seal.

fed from a closed source, not shown. This material is to be fed to a glass tube I2, the purpose of the present invention being to get a simple and efllclent connection between the tube III and the glass tube II when vacuum is applied thereto through a rubber tube I3 on a nipple I 4 which causes the interior of the tube I to communicate with any suitable vacuum source. not shown.

The tube I I is provided with a short series of screw threads I5 and on this is screwed a member It having complementary screw threads so that the member may be adjusted longitudinally in either direction along the tube I0 until it comes in contact with the upper end of the glass tube I2.

It is then necessary to get an air-tight seal between the top of the member I6 and the tube It on the one hand and between the bottom of this member and the tube I 2 on the other. This I accomplished by means of a flat sheet rubber gasket I1 having a clean-out circular hole Ila therethrough by means of which the gasket may he slipped up over the tube III. This gasket is coated on its lower surface with a heavy viscous fluid oi This coating of castor oil, or the like, also extends between the gasket and upper surface of the flange I9 of the member I6 as shown in Fig. 2, thereby sealing the space between the gasket subjected to a vacuum, air pressure then pressing the gasket flrmly against this flange. The hole Ila is made smaller than the tube I II so that the material about this hole tends to hug the tube very tightly.

Similarly. a gasket 20 is provided with a larger circular opening which is made smaller than the tube I2 so that when placed thereover, as shown in Figure 1, it will hug the upper portion 01' this tube while the flat portion oi! seal the space between the member and the glass tube.

vents the telescoping of the tubes when the vacuum is applied thereto, since this thrust is taken through the screw member I6 and the metal tube III. For this purpose, that portion of the tube III to which the gasket I1 is applied is rendered very smooth and is highly polished, the better to make the vacuum connection gas-tight. The same is true also of the upper portion of the glass tube I2.

. For convenience only, the tube Il is referred to herein as a metal tube and the tube I2-as a glass tube and it is not intended that the materials of these tubes shall be limited thereto. The upper closes in any desired manner.

tube may be of glass or the lower 0! metal, or both may be either glass or metal, and the invention will function with only small diilerences in structure. Thus screw threads might be formed on a glass tube N or the member II may be adjustably secured or fixed on the tube which it en- Also the tubes II and I! may be merely tubular extensions of any "hollow part to which the other tube is to be given a vacuum connection.

While I have shown and described but a single embodiment of my invention, it is to be underend of a glass tube held in alignment with the first mentioned tube to prevent said tubes from space between the member and glass tube, and means for draining gas from one end of the screw threads to the other when air is exhausted from the tubes.

2. In a vacuum connection of the class described, a tube having an external screw thread, a member having an internal thread coactin therewith for adjusting the same longitudinally on the tube so as to cause it to bear upon the end of a glass tube held in alignment with the ilrst mentioned tube to prevent said tubes from telescoping, a rubber sheet closely surrounding each of the tubes and coated with a viscous liquid of low vapor pressure and lying closely adjacent a surface of the member to seal the space between the member and one of the tubes.

8. In a vacuum connection of the class described, two tubes substantially in alignment, a member partially enclosing one of said tubes,

means associated with said member for positioning it with respect to both said tubes so as to ill: the position of one tube with respect to the other,

and rubber gasket ineans coated with a heavy viscous liquid of low vapor pressure for sealing telescoping, means for sealing the space between' iij the spacelietwe'en the member and the tubes.

the member and tube, means for sealing the;

WALTER A. CARI-SON. 

